think back to the days of cockfighting.
Male birds naturally fight to achieve dominance and mating access to females, and have bony bits on their legs evolved for the purpose. In nature, the loser will be bruised and will run away, leaving the stronger male to court the female birds (there are some interesting writings on the evolution of non-fatal fighting between members of the same species by Nobel prizewinning but subsequently disgraced animal behaviourist and psychologist Konrad Lorenz).
To make cockfighting more entertaining, people used to bind sharpened metal blades to the birds' legs, before releasing them into the cockpit (small fighting enclosure so the loser could not run away) so they would cause bloody and fatal injuries to each other, rather than the bruises and scratches nature had intended. Obviously, the birds were not aware that they were killing each other. Rather in the same way that you might send small boys into a boxing ring with daggers attached to their gloves for the fun of the spectators.
These amusing weapons were called Cock Spurs because they were fastened to the legs of the male birds before a fight. The Cockspur handle is a similar shape.
Blood sports of the poor were mostly banned long ago, in the belief that it encouraged them to drink and wager when they should have been labouring diligently for the employer classes.
Blood sports (and betting) of the rich were not banned, although killing foxes for pleasure is nominally outlawed now.
